MAY DANCE WITH FEET
BARE, BUT NOT SALOME.
LATTER REVOLTING, DEBASING
AND DEBAUCHING, SAYS JUDGE.
Still, He Likes Good Shows and
Came All Way From Independ-
ence to See Booth
and Barrett.
Not because her clothes are scanty,
Nor because the beads fit tight;
But because her steps are naughty
Salome must not dance tonight.
Gertrude Hoffman may dance at the Shubert or anywhere else, but it must not be a la Salome.
She may sing unrestricted, except as for "I Don't Care."
She may wear what she pleases.
Against the two first named features of her performance in the "Mimic World" Judge James H. Slover of the circuit court yesterday granted a temporary injunction, and it is thereby made unlawful for Miss Hoffman to present the dance or sing the song in public so long as she is in Jackson county.
"Obnoxious to public morals" and "replete with immoral suggestions" are some of the phrases which occur in the opinion of Judge Slover. Special notice is taken of the use of the head of John the Baptist, which, with the Salome dance, is classed as "revolting, debasing and debauching."
In the main, Judge Slover bases his authority to act on the Spanish bull fight case in St. Louis, which was stopped by the courts on the grounds that it shocked the moral sense of the community. The opinion in its entirety follows:
WHAT THE COURT RULED.
This proceeding by the attorney general of the state of Missouri is to suppress a part of a performance now on the boards of the Shubert theater in Kansas City, Mo., known as the "Mimic World," and is especially directed against the song, "I Don't Care," and the "Salome" dance. The Shubert people claim that the court has no jurisdiction to interfere by injunction, but if the court should determine that it has jurisdiction, then the play itself is not obnoxious to public morals, but is a highly artistic performance.
As to the jurisdiction of the court, the case of the Spanish bull fight in St. Louis, reported in the 207th supreme court decisions, is sufficient warrant for the court to entertain this case.
As to the performance itself, it may be said, generally speaking, that any public exhibition that at first blush shocks the average intelligence of a community is harmful and demoralizing and should receive the condemnation of the courts. In the Canty case (supra) the supreme court said that a public exhibition of any kind that tends to the corruption of morals is a public nuisance and should be oppressed.
OBNOXIOUS TO PUBLIC MORALS.
The evidence in this case shows that the "don't care" song and the Salome dance are obnoxious to the public morals and an offense against the better instincts of mankind and ought not to be tolerated in a Christian community. The song is replete with lewd and immoral suggestions and the Salome dance, in which an imitation head of Saint John the Baptist is tossed about, is simply revolting and so debasing in its character and debauching in its influence on public morals as to constitute a public nuisance which a court of equity has jurisdiction to and should suppress.
Upon the evidence in the case and the authority of the Canty case a temporary injunction will be granted in favor of the relator, but modifying in some respects the restraining order, which may be agreed to by counsel in the case, otherwise to be settled by the court.
SLOVER LIKES GOOD SHOWS.
At that, Judge Slover is a friend of the theater. He goes when there is a good show. Said he yesterday, after handing down the opinion:
"When Edwin Forrest played at the Coates opera house in the '70s, Mrs. Slover and I drove a mile to the railroad station in Independence. We took the train to Kansas City and attended the performance. Returning, the train was due to leave at 2 a. m., but it was 3 o'clock before it appeared. It was 4 when we got home. Besides, there was a snowstorm that night. That shows I am willing to make a sacrifice even to see a good play.
"Again, when Booth and Barrett opened the Warder Grand, now the Auditorium, Mrs. Slover and myself drove in from Independence and back to see the play. There was no roof on the theater when it was thrown open to the public. That was about fifteen years ago."
As no objection is made to the spring song nor to the costume worn by the Shubert dancer, her managers may, with perfect security from the courts, put her on the stage in the same costume and let her sing this song or any other one. Also she may do any dance except the Salome.
